Wikia Chief Executive Gil Penchina, whose company attracted about 65 million page views last month, said that there is a lot of investor interest in the wiki category because “advertising is a good business model if you don’t have to pay for content.”

He also tells me that there are big differences between Wetpaint and Wikia, noting that Wetpaint has started to operate “corporate wikis” such as one for ABC’s “Lost” and one for T-Mobile’s Sidekick. That’s something Wikia — which relies on volunteers to keep its wikis fresh — would not do. Penchina — whose company also operates a “Lost” wiki — says:

“We are more of a pure community site run by the community. We wouldn’t let ABC decide what should be on the “Lost” wiki. We think the fans should decide. I have posted things on the “Lost” wiki and had them deleted by Wetpaint, which is a different philosophy. They are trying to build the best corporate wiki that ABC is happy with. We are trying to build the best fan site. If ABC told us to do something, we probably wouldn’t do it.”

Wetpaint CEO Ben Elowitz responds by saying that he is happy with the success of the ABC “Lost” wiki. And he said both companies encourage open dialogue on the site, only removing material if it infringes on copyrights.

Here is a more in-depth story I did on Wetpaint when it launched last Spring.

UPDATE: TechCrunch reports on the financing, with Michael Arrington writing that if Wetpaint can keep expenses under control they “will be a likely takeover candidate in the near future.”